Germany could lack vaccine for younger people in the coming months.
The chaos around Johnson & Johnson threatens a fourth corona wave.
Frankfurt / Amsterdam - In addition to the Swedish-British corona vaccine from Astrazeneca, the US vaccine from Johson & Johnson is now also coming under fire. * The European Medicines Agency EMA recently examined cases of thrombosis as side effects of vaccination with this agent.
At the beginning of the week, the American health authority FDA finally provided facts: an immediate stop with the vaccine was recommended.
The US pharmaceutical company then postponed the market launch of the vaccine in Europe on Tuesday (April 13th, 2021) for an indefinite period of time. *
The recommended vaccine with Johnson & Johnson is also causing unrest in Germany: The drug was firmly planned in the federal government's vaccination plan - and could now tear a considerable gap in it.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccination doses planned for April to June 2021, around ten million, could now, like 15 million Astrazeneca doses, only be vaccinated in older people, probably over the age of 60.
Thus, a significant amount of the corona vaccine for younger people could be missing.
Deliveries from the manufacturer Biontech / Pfizer could halt this development in the short term - 40 million vaccine doses have been ordered for the summer months - but the delivery volume will be reduced from the third quarter. *
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Is Germany threatened with a fourth corona wave?
© Annegret Hilse / dpa
Corona: Vaccine shortage - the expert was in Germany for the fourth wave
Carsten Watzl, Secretary General of the German Society for Immunology, therefore warned the “Augsburger Allgemeine” of vaccine shortages: “All in all, we wouldn't have enough for the under 60s until the end of the year,” said Watzl.
"Then we could face a fourth wave of pandemics because we have not yet achieved the herd immunity that we could actually expect in late summer or early autumn," he continues.
The federal government must therefore react now and order additional vaccine doses from manufacturers such as Biontech / Pfizer or Curevac. * In this case, the expert recommends that the Ministry of Health go it alone, as the route via the European Union would take too long, according to Watzl.
Jens Spahn recently made headlines when he spoke of wanting to secure the Russian vaccine Sputnik V for Germany, regardless of the EU's plans. *
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Most recently, Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder was therefore criticized.
Söder stated that the Free State had already signed a preliminary contract with the Russian vaccine manufacturer Sputnik V. * (do with AFP / dpa)
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List of rubric lists: © Annegret Hilse / dpa
